Edgefield Winery

Edgefield Birthday

Kevin Blackwell (of Sassparilla)

About Kevin Blackwell (of Sassparilla)

Sassparilla was fermented in the bold-dank regions of Chicago and Pittsburgh and spewed onto the sidewalk of Portland's 24th & Alberta from the mouth of a 5-gallon bucket, with homemade instruments in their clutches: a cigar-box guitar made from Granny's old jewelry box, a washtub bass given a severe beating with a stick, a polka dotted bucket drum kit with rusty break-drum & a hat-box bass. Adding to the mix is a smooth, lulling washboard's rat-tatting - articulated by a man named "Sweet Pea'" and a melodic and blustery fiddle/harmonica duo that dances and interjects like a muscular horn section. With passion, fury, speed, hustle and emotion, the whiskey rains like hellfire, the fingers fly over resonators, and this sextet muster their collective will to never play like cowards.

The result is a one-of-a-kind concoction of homemade, punk-infused, Portland blood-jug holler music.